fastening

Pluralfastenings

1. 1
   nouncountable

   A hook or similar device used to hold or join things together.

   A loose fastening on the gate let the dog escape into the yard.

   The antique chest had ornate metal fastenings holding the lid in place.

   Similarfastener, closure

   Note

   A word for an action that came to name the object doing it: fasten plus -ing. It belongs to engineering as readily as to gates and chests. Rail reported in 2020 that broken rail fastenings had caused a derailment at Sheffield station. Fastener is its near twin and the two are largely interchangeable. Unlike the verbal form, this noun counts freely: one fastening, a row of fastenings.

2. 2
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of fasten.

   The technician was fastening the panels to the frame.

   Fastening the cargo securely prevented it from shifting during transit.

   Note

   The -ing form does two jobs. After be it builds the progressive (was fastening the panels). On its own it names the action, yet it can still take an object, as in fastening the cargo securely. The same spelling is also the noun for the device itself, which takes an article and a plural (a fastening, fastenings). A direct object after it marks the verb.

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